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Gronkowski and others do not make team flight to Arizona.

The New England Patriots left Foxboro without some heavy artillery on Friday

NFL: Preseason-New Orleans Saints at New England Patriots Bob DeChiara-USA TODAY Sports

In maybe good news for the Arizona Cardinals and not so good news for your fantasy football team, Rob Gronkowski was not on the team flight with the New England Patriots for their Sunday Night opener against the Arizona Cardinals.

While Gronkowski was not the only Patriots player to not be on the flight, Nate Solder and Jonathan Cooper also did not make the flight to Arizona.

Solder is the Patriots starting left tackle, who have had trouble protecting the quarterback as is over the last couple of years, and Solder’s return was supposed to help alleviate some pressure off of young quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

Jonathan Cooper, well Arizona Cardinals fans are not surprised by that at all, but we all do wish Cooper the best in New England, except for this week if he is able to play.

Gronkowski though will be the biggest piece missing for the Pats and their offense, as he is the most talented tight end in the NFL and it is not really close. He would have taken a lot of the burden in the game off of Garoppolo, so his absence would be huge.

Stay tuned for updates, as I am sure we will get some clarity on the situation moving forward, but the early miss of the team flight will not mean that Gronk and the others will not play on Sunday, but it is something to monitor.